It's bourbon's connection with American history that most fascinates Dr. Emil Paganini.

"The history and folklore surrounding bourbon is phenomenal," said Paganini, who lives in Chester Township.

He retired in 2008 as a top Cleveland Clinic nephrologist so he would have more time for family and other aspects of his life.

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"The Whiskey Rebellion, for instance, brought none other than George Washington out to quell a disturbance by farmers who were making whiskey as a way to preserve their corn crops," he said.

Making whiskey from corn saved the crop from rotting, and it made the corn both transportable and saleable, attracting attention from the fledging government, which wanted to tax it as a source of revenue.

That was just one of the hundreds of bourbon facts learned by Paganini last year when he joined a group of Northeast Ohio friends on a driving trip to follow the Bourbon Trail in Kentucky. He's 68, but it was his first-ever guy trip.

The men, ranging from late 20s into 60s and traveling in a car and a pickup truck, were intent on learning about bourbon, the only exclusively American spirit. They booked rooms in various bed and breakfasts and in four days had visited and toured seven Kentucky distilleries framed by Louisville, Lexington and Bowling Green.

"It was a blast," Paganini said. "It was the most fun I'd had in a long time."

Formalized by the Kentucky Distillers' Association, the Bourbon Trail takes visitors among distilleries large and small to give them a firsthand look at the art and science of crafting bourbon. In 1964 bourbon was declared by Congress to be a distinctive product of the United States, and most, but not all of it, is produced in Kentucky.

Bourbon generates more than $125 million per year for the state's economy, and almost twice that is being invested to support a burgeoning tourist industry. Bed and breakfasts, many with only a room or three, are springing up in the countryside, and restaurants everywhere are cooking up dishes using bourbon as an ingredient.

Building on that success, the city of Louisville has established its own Urban Bourbon Trail -- a collection of bourbon bars each having at least 50 different brands of bourbon. The News-Herald's July 14 Travel section will show readers a world shaped by bourbon.

Bourbon has become a growing passion for Europeans, and when Paganini travels back to his wife Loretta's native Italy, bourbon is a prized gift to take to friends and relatives.

His Bourbon Trail trip sparked a hobby, and another trip is in the planning.

"All of us bought top-level bourbon from each distillery we visited," he said. "We learned about bourbons no longer made and about others that are really hard to find. We got competitive over the bourbons we were able to find and came home with about $17,000 worth of bourbon in the back of a pickup truck."

Paganini's scientific mind, fine-tuned during years as a physician, is intrigued by the science and chemistry of bourbon-making.

The same 1964 law that declared it an American spirit also said bourbon must be at least 51 percent corn, be distilled in new charred white oak barrels and be aged at least two years. Distillers, however, vary their creations by increasing the proportion of corn, adding wheat, rye and other grains to the mix and aging it for longer periods of time.

"Charring the insides of the new oak barrels also makes a big difference in the finished bourbon," said Paganini, adding the first corn whiskies to later become bourbon were clear white, like bootleggers' so-called white lightning.

"Back in the early 1800s, Elijah Craig had an empty barrel catch fire," Paganini said. "After he quelled the fire, his friends told him to throw the barrel away, but instead he put his corn and rye whiskey in it to age and eventually sent it down river to New Orleans."

The barrel's contents aged in the sun aboard a paddle wheeler making its way down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River, and onward from there to New Orleans. When the barrel was tapped, its whiskey was a golden brown and more mellow tasting than the clear whiskey, Paganini said. And a demand for more was born.

"Today's bourbons are rated for being charred on a one-to-six scale," Paganini said. "That means the barrel insides have been charred from a few seconds to two or three minutes. Darker bourbons have had more penetration in the wood as they've aged."

Today the name Elijah Craig is connected with a fine, 20-year-old single-barrel bourbon release that has won many awards in spirits competitions.

Stories about how bourbon got its name were among those told to Paganini and his group of Bourbon Trail explorers. Louisville was named for French King Louis XIV by way of thanks for the help he gave during the American Revolution, they learned. Its county was called Bourbon, in tribute to the French Bourbon family's assistance.

When paddle-wheelers approached Louisville on the Ohio River, they unloaded their cargo to lighten boats and ease their passage over the Falls of the Ohio. Barrels of bourbon, transported by mule-drawn carts to the other side of the Falls, were stamped with the name Bourbon to designate their loading place.

"When the barrels arrived in New Orleans, their contents became known as Bourbon," Paganini said.

Of all the distilleries he visited, Paganini said he's most impressed with Buffalo Trace because of the experiments it's conducting to discover possible variations in the finished product.

"They rotate barrels trying to find sweet spots in their warehouses," he said. "They try aging in single oak barrels, made only from a single tree to see if there's an oak terroir that influences the taste. They even have an open-walled covered shed for aging to see what happens to bourbon when it's left open to the elements."

He's discovered that bourbons made with wheat are the smoothest, probably a reason for the runaway popularity of Maker's Mark.

And he's discovered that bourbon's popularity here and abroad is growing by leaps and bounds.

"It's like Napa Valley was in the '70s," he said, referring to the California wine country. "Bourbon was always an older generation's drink, but now my generation and a younger generation are discovering it all over again."

As Paganini's fascination with bourbons and their history increases, so does his collection.

He's got two complete sets of Pappy Van Winkle bourbons, considered by aficionados as among the finest in the world. Van Winkle bourbons, distilled at Buffalo Trace, have been aged 15, 20 or 23 years. Paganini's sets cost $1,700 each.

He has two sets so he can sip bourbon from one and save the other. He has some bourbons he will probably never open, because they are the only ones still in existence.

He even paid $500 for an empty barrel in which Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon was distilled.

"My wife thinks I'm crazy," he said.

He and Loretta, the cooking school doyenne, have been married 42 years.

On Wednesday, the two will use their individual passions to collaborate on an American whiskey and Bourbon Trail tasting dinner at their Sapore Restaurant in Chester Township. The 6 p.m. dinner is $75, with each served using whiskey in its preparation. Loretta cooks while Emil guides the whiskey tasting. Learn what's for dinner online, where reservations also may be made.

When the Paganinis next head to Florida, Emil most looks forward to the opportunities to scout rare bourbons. Ohio's liquor laws make it difficult, he's found, but Florida is a state with wider varieties available.